Bob Geldof, once the unlikeliest face of capitalism, has extolled the virtues of private equity for spurring development in Africa. The former singer urged a gathering of leading financiers to invest in the continent before they lose out to China. "I have learned that private equity … can be a major vehicle for positive change in this world," Geldof said in Berlin. The former Boomtown Rat has come to embrace business enterprise so vigorously that he chairs a private equity fund called 8 Miles, named after the shortest distance between Europe and Africa.